>> it is time to roll up the sleeves and get down to business on the fiscal cliff. democrats and republicans have made the trip to the white house. i'm ashley webster,. it is the last hour of trading, and count down to the closing bell starts now. we have breaking news from washington. rich edson at the white house where president obama is about to meet with key members of congress, and, rich, there's talk of a scaled down deal put

forth by the president. what have you heard? >> it that is the discussion. you have harry reid, mitch mcconnell arriving at the white house, should have house leadership shortly to begin a meeting, a last ditch effort to try to help the economy avoid the fiscal cliff, or at least pieces of it, and, yes, the buzz around washington is a possible path forward that aids describe as preventing tax increase for income amounts of $400,000 or $500,000 or so, extend unemployment insurance, but, still, nothing has been agreed to. all in washington are waiting to see how this meeting goes. it's just about to start here in dc. meanwhile, on capital hill, the fighting continues, and in some corners, a sense of pessimism. >> if we don't have a deal within the next 24 hours, the question is where do you buy a

parachute? we'll be going over the cliff because the closer we get to the end, the less likely it is you can compress an agreement into place that will have enough votes to pass. >> this is basically it. the first time in weeks the top democrat, the top republican from the house and senate have gotten together here at the white house with the president and vice president, congressional leaders arriving, and the meeting should be starting shortly. back to you. ashley: we'll see what comes from it. markets taking a hit, but off the lows from the day, a repeat of yesterday, volatile, choppy, given the uncertainty in washington, and light volume meaning the markets get ripped around fairly easily, and as you can see across the board, the dow down 95 points off about three quarters of a percent, down a half percent on the s&p, and nasdaq moving lower by four-tenths of a percent. by the way, hp, talking about the stock yesterday, the pick,

the worst performer on the dow dropping more than 2% in a 10k filing, the justice deeartment looking into the purchase of atonomy, the embattled software maker. they went ahead and made the deal last year, and you can see red arrows in other names, ibm up by, about, well, 34 points. you see hp down almost 2.5 #%, and dow down by 1%. by the way, the stock down, by the way, more than 30% this year. apple, meanwhile, the tech stocks if you can see. apple, down a couple bucks. that's what i can tell you. basic materials, same story. we have red arrows across the board, and you have to look at the basic materials in metals as we said. caterpillar off, freeport mcmoran off, and newmont mining down, the sentiment for

so much undecided in washington. the selling in the mining shares is due to the weakness in gold, down 16.54, down to 9.40 an ounce, dollar rising against the euro, a flight to safety. silver moving lower and flirting with $30, right at $30 an ounce. platinum also lower. a lot of weakness in the metals contracts. getting to the floor show. we got traders in the new york stock exchange, cme group, and imex. beginning with bobby at the nsci. it's held hostage for so long now. what happens if there's a deal that doesn't address anything? is the market stuck in limbo for more weeks, maybe months down the road? >> well, i suspect you're right. if they come out with a cobbled deal that extends it out a little bit, i imagine there's some sort of a rally, maybe not

a big rally, a couple hundred points, but back in the same place for a couple weeks. the weeks before the election, everybody talked about the fiscal cliff, and until they really put this deal together fully and for the long term, it's the same thing going out into the next year. ashley: it's interesting. what if nothing is done? what reaction do you expect there, bobby? >> if nothing's done, i think we'll have the reaction like we have now. i don't know if they'll be able to have an announcement before sttcks close at four o'clock, but everybody is sitting with hands tied behind the back for any news. ashley: dan at the cme. dan, i want to talk gold. it's interesting, gold down eight or nine bucks on the day, and you think it's a safe haven play, but is it the profit takers trying to get ahead of higher tax rates to pay? >> it's possible, but i believe people think there's no grand

bargain here. if they come to grips with a plan, the plan they talked about is tax rates. obviously, that's good, a nice headline, but that doesn't stop the sequestering io themes in play. if they are in play, that's deflationary, and that's why commodities are challenged lately. unless there's a good deal, gold will go down further. ashley: interesting. copper, silver, platinum, palladium, down across the board, isn't it? >> oh, for sure. none of the things we talked about, there's rumors now that maybe there could be some of the defense cuts spending in the sequestered items, but until now, no discussion at all about what happens to the other things other than income tax rates, and that's deflationary. good point. allen harry, seems to me, talk oil, allen, fluxuating, and we had a report that gasoline supplies with a nine month high

on weaker demand. oil, is this the range to be stuck in for awhile, do you think? >> no. i think right now, and anything above $90, it's a buy, and as buy nd long in that level. i think we might see 92.50 to 94. there's going to be a parcel package, a sideways range, but not in the 91 range long. we'll break from there and go to 92.5 to 94. ashley: brent, at 110, the benchmark grade if you'd like for more than half the world's crude. do you expect brent to be remain above 100 in the coming year? >> short term, bullish on crude oil. longer term, there's an oversupply now, so longer term, bearish. we are below the hundred dollars in brent, but right now, anything above 110, it's a buy. ashley: long wti and short on brent?

>> no, long both. ashley: long both. interesting. >> yeah, long on both, for short term. ashley: great stuff, gentlemen, thank you for joining us on the floor show. the dow down, in the range, president meeting with leaders as we speak, we believe, at the white hoose. we'll see what may or may not come from that. the fiscal cliff, which companies get hurt the most if we go right over that cliff? elizabeth ma cdonald is here with the bottom line. what are we looking at for bad news for what companies? >> walmart hand capped this and have their score card. a number of companies will, you know, dive over the fiscal cliff, and i'm tired of the "fiscal cliff" term, pardon me, it's a manmade term, the fc, whatever happens january 1st. here's why they get sales from government contracts. that's the deal. it's not just the lockheed

martins of the world. you'll see in here, humana, other health care companies, of course, medical device companies hit with the tax, but they have striker, for example, and there's a lot of sales from government contracts. you'll see in here, look at that, motorola, holdings in and waste management companies like waste management and republic services, ashley. ashley: what are the stock prices on the companies, iz? >> good point. goldman sachs warned since 2011 when that debt ceiling crisis hit in the summer of 2011 that triggered the fiscal cliff learning that the companies could under perform, but there's another wall street player, and that's fidelity saying watch for the banks, not just because they are under pressure as they track the general economy, but it's because business capital spending is down as of the third quarter, really went south, worried about that and activity dropping off by 20% versus the

prior year, and banks make a lot of fee money. people, you know -- excuse me, a trillion dollars in cash still sitting tight on the sidelines for a reason saying that the banks have got to get stung here, but the two safe havens if they call it that, biotech is one fidelity talked about because they get money from venture capitalists and not from the government. they get research and development creditss the nih, for example, you know, is going to see a cut there, and the federal budget there, and, also, health care sector reeks real estate plays. interesting ideas from fidelity. ashley: you mentioned companies, activity down, banks hurting because they are not getting the fees. flip the story around, and washington finally gets its act together, could we see a boom on the other side of that with money pouring? >> wouldn't that be great? we've been through worse as a country, and we'll get beyond this right now, but the problem

in washington, d.c. is emergency budgets that have not done a budget in four years, and they@ are doing gang of six, gang of 12 meetings, budgeting by committee, with no formal budget in process, really, in place in the senate for a very long time. that's why we have emergency crisis, you know, budgeting and crisis inflicting the country. ashley: these companies are hatch strung. how can they plan for the future? >> would you? ashley: of course not, hunker down. on. ashley: all eyes on washington. liz, thank you so much. >> sure. ashley: closing bell ringing in 50 minutes, if the u.s. is over the fc, the fiscal cliff, what do you do with your money other than put it under the matress, suck your thumb, and curl up in the fetal position? one telling clients to stay in equities in the u.s. and

overseas. find out where she put money to work and how to keep your cliff protected. how many times can i say ""liff"? that's all next in a fox business exclusive. ♪ [ malennouncer it's tt time of year again.

time for citi price rewind. ecause your daughter really wants that pink castle thi. and youealldon't want to pay morehan you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and it findone, you get rended the diffence. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super spary day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all youeed is a magicarriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.com/pricerewind.

ashley: barnes & noble spreading holiday cheer to investors. they could use it. the stock is jumping up 5%, making it our power mover of the day. let's go to the breaking news. the white house, right now, may be, may be, a glimpse of hope on the fiscaa cliff. we know that mitch mcconnell, harry reid, and john boehner arrived at the white house to meet with the president, see if they can get a deal ppt together. we understand, also, tim geithner, as we see on the graphic there, will be a part of the discussions, and, also, s&p saying, by the way, that the fiscal cliff will not impact the u.s. credit rating, the sovereign rating, as you can see right there. some breaking news for you out of washington. this meeting scheduled somewhere between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. this afternoon. if it goes longer, we'll wait and see whether they come out of the meeting, at least they are

meeting. that's what we can is say. power mover of the day, barnes & noble as we said spreading cheer with the stock jumping up 5%, making it the power mover as you see. barnes & noble landing financing. peerson with a 5 #% stake in the digital business. blow the one year chart up a little bit so you can see the stock moving up today. it's been a rough road, clearly for barnes & noble, nook media, part of the barnes & noble area investing in, worth about $89 # million. they are the digital business including the nook e-reader, the tablets, and the investment putting barnes & noble's fundamentals on the table for a day. it's been a rough go, but holiday sales below estimates, and the nook will not meet expectations for 20 # 13. that's not such good news for today's gains though. and barnes & noble up 6%, but,

still, we should point out, under performing the broader market. go to lauren simonetti at the new york stock exchange. word the meeting is underway, and the dow, down, well, triple digits, now now 89. i have a feeling we don't hear anything until the market's closed. what do you think? >> i have a feeling you are right. we tested laos, moments ago, down 100 points, but for the dow, 109 the low. it's the final hour, always very volatile as of late especially. you talked about barnes & noble and weakness in the nook business. talk about the finished hand set maker, nokia and weakness in the phone business. a lot of the smart phones just hit the market with $99 price tags, and now the "wall street t journal" found they sell for $99 on amazon.com. after christmas, it's $39. you can get the lumia822 for

free at verizon wireless with a new contract. i don't know what that says about the phones, but the stock is not liking it. nokia stock down nearly 3.2% now on the day. it's one of the biggest losers back to you.world. ashley: thank you so much. well, we are a mere trading day away from falling off the -- can't avoid saying it, the fiscal cliff. how many times will we say it in 40 minutes. how should you prepare your portfolio? joining us in a fox business exclusive is the financial adviser, who, by the way, one of the top female advisers. congratulations on that, jerry. >> thank you very much. >> we have to pay attention to what you say. you say, i was looking at the notes that the fiscal cliff has nothing to do with the value of the market. how should investors play this such uncertain environment? >> well, turns out it's looking like a fiscal cliff hanger, doesn't it?

up to the last minute. i think that investors tend to get caught up emotionally too much, and there's a couple things to do towards the end of the year. one is if you have not taken capital gains, going from 15% to 23.8%, do that monday. if you have a gain in a position, take it, buy it back right away, pay the tax at a lower rate. that's one of the things to do. also, make sure that next year you increase your 401(k) to 17,000 or 23,500 if you get the extra over 50 amount. take a roth 401(k) plan because that's more valuable as tax rates go up. ashley: good point. >> look at the conversions, the 529 plans, anything to be taxed hurts more. anything you can do as a consumer, and, of course, moonnies is more valuable next year as well. ashley: very good advice. you say don't sell in a down markets. put the cash to work. worried about catching the falling knife?

>> not at all. the s&p500 up 15% going through the european crisis and the election. the market charged forward. corporations have cash and money. the pe ratio's 13.5 # times. there's plenty of opportunity in the market, and if you sell into the down market, from time to time, you don't know what happens and when. long term holding, allocation, and diversification. if you have cash on the sidelines and you are brave, great time to invest. ashley: there's bargains out there. if we fall over the cliff, we cut the debt in half; right? >> the best thing that could happen, well, it could be better, but it's a good thing. ashley: concerned what it would do to the economy? >> i don't think there's going to be as much hand wringing. ii don't think we're going overa long cliff. i think that's the really big worry. for a short term thing, it

happens for a couple weeks or month or so, but i think that you don't want to sell into the down. it's only recession if we linger, and i don't think that's a really big possibility. there's so much public sentiment about not wanting to linger, and hopefully washington listens. we've been here before. we've been at tax rates like this in the 1990s before, and also, there's a lot of studies out there that show people do not stop investing because capital gains rates are higher. ashley: focusing too mucc on the negative? >> way too much on the negative. focus on some of the positive things like europe didn't fall over. interest rates are reasonable in spain, italy, and great britain. ashley: corporate earnings, signs of weakness in the last earnings season. concernedded about that? >> i think that it's cyclical. i think there's been little signs. i think we have to get employment together in the united states. housing is starting to come back. we're -- slowly, but in the north east in particular, there's more demand, and there's less housing inventory, but in

the rest of the country, we have to wait and see on that. employment is really, really the key thing, and so what comes out of all the negotiations and how we employee people, infrastructure, and all of that makes a difference. ashley: companies hunkering down, a lot of cash, but not doing in until washington gets the act together. >> means technology, for example, could be a big sector. if companies get signals from washington and go out and invest into hiring people, putting technology online, it could be great, but we're just waiting and waiting and waiting, which is why it's a cliff hanger. ashley: cliff hanger, i'm tired of saying "fiscal cliff. i'll use "cliff hanger." thank you so much for being here. >> you're welcome. ashley: i said it would be fun; right? >> yeah. ashley: very optimistic. the closing bell rings in 37 minutes. by the way, it is the endless search for yield. money flowing into corporate bonds like there is no tomorrow, especially junk bonds.

the question is is it too late for investors to get in on the action. lance robert, the ceo of street talk advisers, find out why he thinks stocks are better with consistent returns and pay healthy diff denldz. makes sense. his top picks coming up next in a fox business exclusive. ♪

ashley: face call cliff, fiscal cliff, fiscal cliff, that's three more times, holding stocks hostage, down fifth day in a row. energy stocks notably weak again today. six down days in a row so check out the energy select spider exchange traded fund. it's xle, and it's basically a proxy for the energy complex, oil producers, service providers, pipeline operators, and xle, as you see, up 1.25%.

in terms of the individual names, exxon mobile down 1.5%. chevron down 1.5%. total down 2%. conoco phillips 1%. red arrows across the board. congressional leaders meeting at the white house right now, and there is -- the question is is there any chance there's a deal before we hit the cliff, or do we just hunker down and wait for spring? gosh, i hope not. lance roberts, ceo of street talk, joining me in a fox business exclusive. lance, thank you. look, they are meeting in washington now. i don't know whether we should be excited or not. what do you think is the outcome? when do you think we'll get something done? >> not until after the first of the year. ashley: what! how late into the new year do you think? >> well, here's the bottom line, as we look at this and what is going on, there's no resolution

over the weekend, and, really, before monday, there's too much at stake here for the republican side of the bench. a lot of these -- the republicans come up for election again in 2014 so this is a very important game for them at this point. they got to please their constituents so, you know, the battle's over who do you raise tax rates on, what level, and, of course, more importantly, what's spending will be cut? that's why i don't think you're going to see much action over the weekend. i think it's sometime after the first of the year, february to march, that we'll get a resolution on the table because -- ashley: can the markets wait that long, though? lance, can americans wait that long? >> it's very possible that the markets will hang in there, and we'll talk about that in a second because there's a lot to do with qe, but what's key now is that the -- is that the debt ceiling debate is going to be thrown right into the middle of this, and that, in and of itself, could delay a resolution on the fiscal cliff because of

the need to raise the debt ceiling. ashley: interesting. get right to it. what stocks and sectors do you like? where do you put your money? what are you telling your clients? >> great point. the reason the markets hanging in here because it has to do with qe. market makers do not want to be out of the market with $85 million a month between qe3 and 4. we want to be defensive here. there's risk. listening to the last guest who made good points about the economy, and, you know, this is not a fiscal cliff, but a slope. the stuff that happens here, tax rates, they occur over the rest of the year, not all at once at the beginning of the year so we want to be defensive in the allocation. look for things that provide a steady consistent dividend. companies with steady growth in the payout, it's a great substitution for income into portfolios, but it lowers volatility over things like technology stocks which are tied to market movements so, you

know, things like coca-cola, proctor and gamble, clorox, great companies, long consistent history of dividend payouts. don't neglect corporate bonds. corporations are holing a tremendous amount of cash. they are healthy cash-wise. balance sheets are great. move down the scale, the ratings, even to the bb space, bb-plus, but look for companies that have a-rated balance sheets, lots of cash, low debt, yields are good, and they provide a steady income stream in the portfolio and balance out the rirveg if the market -- risk if the market is hit. ashley: you like the oil and gas sector. what in particular? >> what do i like about the oil and gas sector in particular is that qe is a very beneficial to pushing the dollar down in oil prices up. $85 billion a month coming into next year, there's real possibility oil's back up towards $100 a barrel, maybe

higher. as opposed to the xle as mentioned, i like the other side of this, which is the xop, which is an etf tracking more of the drillers. the drillers and operators are sensitive to the price of oil so if oil prices go up, drillers, like slumberjay, the operators, they do better in the environment. ashley: quickly, lance, you mentioned the muni bond, are we in a bond bubble in the treasuries? >> it's likely, but they said that the last four years. the issue becomes, though, with the federal reserve buying bonds at $45 billion a month next yeer, you're going to be able to sustain very low rates and investors will be able to have that safety of the bond principle going forward the next two to three years. i wouldn't worry about a bond bubble right now. ashley: thank you indeed. street talk adviser ceo, great stuff, thank you, lance, appreciate it.

>> thank you, happy new year. ashley: thanks, same to you. bell rings in 27 minutes, continue into the new year? that's the big question. where can you find the bargains? a best retail play for 2013 straight ahead in a fox business exclusive so keep it right here. ♪

ashley: news from the white house, and as you know, the president meeting with congressional leaders at this hour as well as tim geithner, a source familiar with what's going on inside there says today's meeting, the president,

the source says, is not making a new offer. there was speculation about that. the source saying that he's going to lay out, as he did a year ago -- last week, i should say, clear to pass for the majority of the houss and senate so that would include tax hikes for those making -- families making $250,000 or more, more than that, would be facing higher tax rates, those under $250,000 would not, extends unemployment insurance to protect 2 million people from losing unemployment benefits so this is where we stand. there was speculation perhaps there could have been a compromise on the tax rates, maybe pushing that up to $500,000 a year threshold for new tax hikes, but apparently not. the source familiar with what's going on inside the white house right now saying that the president is not making a new offer so it'll be interesting to see how that goes down with the g.o.p. leadership.

we'll keep you up to date, of course. lauren, meantime, at the new york stock exchange, and sandra smith at the cme. lauren, to you first, he dough already down 117 points. >> session lows, ashley, and this week has not been a good one for the stock market, but we'll show you rare winners this week, and let's start with ford, in front of the poss right now, shares up today by a quarter of 11%, but up a remarkable 8% this week. genworth financial putting in a good week, sprint, good year tire, and other brands, showing you that too, the stock down today, but about.8%, a decent week, interesting, you know how bad the week is is when you talk about young brands, the biggest winner of 11.7% on the week, but amd, that's your biggest loser this week down 11.5%, down about 5.5% today alone. other losers this week including pioneer, natural resources,

xerox, red streem, and when you came to me, ashley, down 138 for the average. the selloff intensifying, a 1% decline for the broader market right now. it's the time 20 minutes now, this is when we see things pop or drop, and, today, unfortunatelily, we are getting a drop. ashley? ashley: reverse of what we saw yesterday with hopes of some sort of agreement on the fiscal cliff.3 now, maybe not so much. sandra smith at the cme, following the smack down on metals today, sandra. >> yeah, that's right, ashley, and a quick update here, the pits here got louder as we've gone into the final minutes of the trading session here. as the talks in washington continue, we are seeing some action pick up, and we'll continue to monitor that. meanwhile, precious metals are a big part of the selloff on commodity prices today and for weeks now. gold prices falling down, down eight bucks, around the 1650

ounce mark, a far cry from the record highs above $1800 an ounce that we had been seeing earlier in the year. this, today, capping the longest run of weekly decline for gold that we've seen in two years so the bearish sentiment in the market, guys issue and one way traders explained that sell off of gold is like it or not, the start's gone up 15% this year, and people missed out on that rally. at year's end, people are cashing out on gold and putting that money to work in the stock market, which is just a few days left to go. silver prices, by the way, down today. silver's out performed goal in 2012 up 8% for the year, and gold just 6% for the year. we are seeing this smack down in precious metals, folks taking money out of there putting it into the u.s. dollar, not looking for alternatives based on the u.s. dollar strength recently with a two week high, the dollar index against a basket of currencies today so -- i should say, the u.s. dollar

against the basket of currencies. there's strength there. you.net want gold -- you don't want gold if the dollar is strengthening. ashley, things got louder here as the meeting continues in the last few minutes, will be an exciting one. ashley: a wild one. thank you so much. closing bell rings in, well, just 17 minutes. the question is which retailers will do well in 2013, even if we go over the fc, the fiscal cliff. i have to say it again. investment management portfolio manager, lots of names he says keeps demand for the brand next year. the top picks coming up in a fox business exclusive. the dow up 123 points. we'll be right back. ♪

ashley: welcome back, everybody, following the developments out of the white house as the president is meeting with congressional leaders right now to see if there's common ground on finding a solution to deal on the fiscal cliff. we told you minutes ago we understand from a source that the president is not unvailing a new offer, but going with the original offer which was dismissed by the g.o.p. leaders so that is one aspect of this. we're also told by an administration showrs that president obama will not be on a call to ceos scheduled at 5:30 this afternoon eastern time. the administration officials saying, quote, it's a routine call with business leaders and white house staff be giving them the latest on the fiscal cliff". lloyd will be on the call according to a source, and still

working on exactly what's transpyring inside the white house. that's lloyd blankfind there, again, not part of the call with the ceos, and conferring with the chief executives on what's going on with the fiscal cliff arrangements or, you know, negotiations because, obviously, critical getting closer and closer to the fiscal cliff, session lows now, the news does not portend good news with regard to the negotiations down 158 points and as you can tell, a rough day on wall street. stocks falling again, fifth day in a row, by the way, of session lows. 159 points down, red arrows, s&p and russell 2000. just sources from the meeting, but none appear to be positive, and as a result, the dow heading towards the closing bell. the holiday shopping season coming to a close, and the u.s., as we know now, on the edge of

the fiscal cliff. what's that mean for retailers in 2013? we have a guest here. i love wisconsin, used to live in green bay, ken, thank you so much. tell me, what do you like when it comes to the retailers in 2013, what's the pick, and explain to me why. >> sure. i think the first place to start is to recognize that we're in an uncertain environment, and it's likely to stay that way given the news flow that we have. we're trying to take a balanced approach, first off, look for well-managed bids business -- businesses, and then can we find areas that may not be impacted by how strong the economy is? will consumers continue to spend with fast growth or slow growth

in the united states? one to do well in the environment is the auto parts retailers. in particular we like o'reilly automotive, it's a well-managed business with the ability to grow their store base, and when you think about their customer who needs a car to get to work, who continues to put off the purchase of a new car, really, you know, it's not as impacted by how fast the economy grows. the ability to grow the store base, grow seas in the individual stores every year, and then on top of that, they've done a really nice job managing the cost structure, the business, and these business models produce a lot of cash and buying back stock aggressively so it's a nice recipe for growth, even into 2013 in an uncertain environment. ashley: ken, you mentioned o'reilly, why this over auto zone that continues to grow and arguably dominant in that market? >> sure. great question. i would say that they are both

very good companies. we just happen to like the growth profile at o'reilly growing store base faster and have a potential to grow the top line revenue faster, but i wouldn't argue that either of them are very good companies. ashley: all right. discount retailers. you like dollar general. what do you like about the stock? >> interesting area. they are playing into an area of consumer stress. arguably, more consumers fall you like dollar general. fall what do you like about the stock? >> interesting area. they're playing into an area where the consumers stress. even in a tougher environment, more consumers may fall into that argument. it's controversial now. they really pull back a bit and part of that is the worry over the cliff here and how much the lower end consumer is impacted by the changes so that is a risk

but at the same time, good management team, the growth of the store. there is a bit more competition >> we think the business model can do good things. ashley: ken, a minute left, and two more retail names that you pick out. pvh corporation, the owner of the tommy hilfiger brand and under armor. pvh? >> a good story, a good stock the last 12 months and can continue. the company, again, managing two very strong brands, very well, an acquisition, a licensing partner so we think, in essence, they clean up the distribution, the brands, the marketing strength, get more exposure geographically, really nice deal that closes in 2013 so well-managed coming into the year, and with some opportunities to lift earnings throughout that acquisition. ashley: very good.

underarmor, quickly. >> higher rrsk, high expectations, but what a great brand developed in the last five years. the runway is long over a period of years here, 13, 14, 15, we like the growth profile, well-known, well-managed brands. people are spending money on the sporting goods area, in the apparel area, and that comets. ashley: thank you. the investment portfolio manager, thank you so much, we appreciate it, ken. >> thank you, happy new year. ashley: the markets heading to the break, dow off 148 points with the news from the white house as congressional leaders meet with the president. perhaps not that positive as time is running out on the fiscal cliff. the market reacting, perhaps, we'll, let's see, down 144 points r and the president is reportedly not presenting a new plan. he's also not on a call to ceos once this meeting is over. the market not particularly liking that news.

we'll be right back. ♪ [ indistinct shoutg ]

♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, be dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪

alonhinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪ ashley: the dough off 136 points or thereabouts, one stock we are watching is magic jack, raising the outlook saying the operating income will top expectations. shares jumping on that news up more than 10%, a buck-67 on the day close to $18. the company announcing a management shakeup for 2013 on january the 1st, gerald vinto taking over as president and ceo, the company up 30% for the year, a bright spot in a difficult day. again, over to david asman. david: i'm not pleased about the

number right here. off the day's lows, but, again, flirting with the lows. we are very, very close on the day's lows, and it is going down. let's go to lauren simonetti at the new york stock exchange. lauren, who's the grinch who stole the rally? the folks inside the beltway; right? >> it's congress. it's a really bad week and bad month for stocks. this is when we have a santa claus rally, final ten days of the year are supposed to be really stroke. not the case today. you talk about the low of the session. i tracked this. we were down 170 points at the low of the session. i didn't remember seeing it, but we were. hp, a grinch itself, continuing the decline adding to its 46% yearly decline, the biggest loser so far this year i'm learning. >> yeah, it is the biggest loser on the dow, especially today, down today. this on news that the government